This sucks for so many reasons. I'd be so pissed off if I made travel arrangements to see a Sunday game and found out it was flexed to Thursday less than a week before it was played. This impacts days taken off from work, hotel/rental car/airport plans and more. Horrible for attending fans, some of whom may only be able to see one game in person per year.

It's even worse than regular Thursday night games for players. Thursday games are horrible for player safety and if I was a player, I'd be even angrier if I got flexed late in the season. To be perfectly honest, I wish they'd switch to Friday night games instead of Thursday. Or just get rid of the Thursday games altogether.

 

With "player safety" being the NFL's "top priority" (or so they claim), I just can't see how the league can allow Thursday night football to continue. I would have figured after Tua's catastrophic concussion, the league would have reevaluated TNF and cancelled it all together.

I understand the NFL is a business...I understand it is in the business to make money. I am a capitalist and understand this but you can't beat the drum of player safety with one hand and the money drum with the other.

 

The NFL proves yet again that the fans, followed by the players, are at the bottom of their priority list. The millions that the fans spend pales in comparison with the billions that the streaming services (in this case, Amazon) will pump into the revenue stream.

So what if a few fans have to cancel their once-a-year (or lifetime) plans? As long as the networks are happy, they don’t care.

 

The NFL’s money deal with amazon is too significant for them to get rid of Thursday football unfortunately.. and while the players want it gone, theyre also benefiting from the amazon deal so in the end the majority would take the money.

 

They could always refuse to play on Thursday

 

I honestly wish Amazon got the Sunday Ticket too- it would be great to see all games on a single platform. Was just looking at YouTube pricing and thinking about cutting Direct TV. Internet is weak in my area though so that's another hurdle.

 

What is the pricing for YouTube plus the ticket?

 

That's a great point!**** these Thurs night games in general!
****ing ove the players and the out of state fans.

 

It's not fully clear yet- they're expecting around $300/year to buy it standalone but they're also going to offer a stripped-down budget tier...no word on that price. It also says that the ticket will be included with YouTube+, so that's probably the path they'll drive people. Also, they've decided not to do a team by team subscription.

 

I didn't think it through- surely they couldn't flex them same-week. That would open a world of headaches since teams would have to prepare for the game every Mon-Wed in case they're traveling early Thursday. Or maybe teams just make it standard practice to travel Thursday mornings regardless...which throws off the week but at least it's predictable.

I agree, terrible rule.

 

They haven't announced the price for Sunday Ticket yet. The nugget thrown out was that there will be a discounted price for those of us subscribed to YoutubeTV. Coincidentally they just announced a price increase from $65 to $73 for the base plan. I have the sport package add-on so my bill will be $84 per month. If they do the per team pricing I'll add Sunday Ticket in a heartbeat, but if they keep the shortsighted view of all-or-nothing I wont add it (unless its something ridiculous like $100 for the season).

 

Stupid decision. I’d probably pay $50-75 for Dolphins games, but there’s no way I’d pay $300 for the whole package.

 

NFL is a greedy business.It will be all or nothing

 

Yep, they lost me as a customer a few years ago now on NFL Gamepass. I used to have the yearly subscription and would even tolerate the Dolphins games being blacked out when they were on SKY while it was only something like £60 for the year. Then one year they just decided to up the price to something like £130 and I started to sail the seas again. Think it's up to £150 now which is just stupid since they still black out the games that are on SKY.

 

I agree. Even $99 for Fins only and it would be an easy decision. $300 to watch games on my computer is much more complicated.

 

I have Roku and can watch via the NFL app on my TV.

 

IIRC, most teams travel on Wednesday, which gives them one day to practice (Tuesday) and time for a game day walk thru. They all take Mondays off to recover. The proposal is even worse because players who sustain injuries on Sunday will feel compelled to play on Thursday because the flexed TNF games will involve teams that are in the playoff chase.

Without reading the specifics of the proposal, I'd imagine they'll flex the games with a couple of weeks' notice, which still screws someone who made travel and hotel arrangements after the schedule was released six months earlier. It's just an all-around inconsiderate change.

 

I think that this is a really good point that really shines light onto a bigger issue: Who is the primary audience and who is the secondary audience?

Everything you said was absolutely true about the most committed of the fan who pay, take time off, travel, etc. and physically watch the game. In relative terms, that is a small amount of fans - literally a stadium worth. Then there are the TV watching audience that is a whole myriad of fans. They could be super fans and out of states to the most casual of audiences that will only tune in of the matchup is worthwhile. I also understand that that very small audience that tends to only tune in if the matchup is good is very, very important for ratings and ultimately a TV contract.

I can also say that in recent years that Thursday matchups have not been good. This expands the problem.

Finally, I don't really want my team to play Thursday night games. I love watching the Phins in prime time, but coming off the shortened week is always lower quality games, and more importantly, a greater chance that the lesser team could prevail.

 

The NFL found a way to make Thursday games EVEN worse. It's all about the money though.

 

They must have caught wind of the debate.

NFL clubs table TNF flex proposal; Mara, Mahomes among critics

10:02 PM ET
Brooke Pryor
ESPN Staff Writer

PHOENIX -- While NFL teams opted not to vote on a rule that would allow games to be flexed into a Thursday night kickoff, clubs agreed Tuesday to modify the existing rule and allow teams to play a maximum of two short-week games.

That means that while some teams could play two Thursday night games, others would not have any. Back-to-back Thursday night games, such as a Thanksgiving game followed by a Thursday night game the next week, would only count as one short-week game, so some teams could wind up playing three Thursday night games.

"We're interested in making sure that we get exposure for all of our clubs," said Brian Rolapp, NFL executive vice president and chief media and business officer.

"We also believe that these national windows are for clubs that are playing well. We want to put the best teams in the best windows."

While the tabled proposal and subsequent modification on the final day of the league's annual meetings in Phoenix had support from a sizable number of clubs, others met it with tepid reactions, and some were adamantly opposed, including New York Giants owner John Mara.

Mara, who called the idea "abusive," said the vote was close, and he is concerned it will come up again at the spring league meetings and eventually pass.

"At some point, can we please give some consideration to the people who are coming to our games?" Mara said. "People make plans to go to these games weeks and months in advance. And 15 days ahead of time to say, 'Sorry, folks, that game you were planning on taking your kids to Sunday at 1:00, now it's on Thursday night?' What are we thinking about?"

Mara also said he was frustrated that the idea was presented to the owners at the league meetings this week with no advance warning.

"This should have been vetted with the health and safety committee, it should have been vetted with the competition committee, and it was not," Mara said. "They just tried to push it through."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell pushed back against Mara's assertion that the practice would be "abusive" to fans, saying that the league is trying to balance the best interests of in-stadium fans with those watching on television from home.

"There isn't anybody in any of our organization that doesn't put our fans first," Goodell said. "Providing the best matchups for our fans is what we do. That's part of what our schedule has always focused on. Flex has been part of that. We are very judicious with it and careful with it. We look at all the impacts of that before a decision is made."

Players also appeared to be critical of the decision to increase the number of Thursday night games a team can play. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the league's reigning MVP, tweeted the news with a facepalm emoji.

Asked about Mahomes' reaction, Goodell stressed that the league isn't prioritizing a broadcast partner over the health and safety of players.

"I don't think we are putting Amazon over players' interest," Goodell said. "We look at data with respect to injuries and impact on players. ... I think we have data that's very clear, it doesn't show higher injury rate.

He added: "I hear from a lot of players directly, too. They have 10 days afterwards. So there's some benefits on that side."

Pittsburgh Steelers president and CEO Art Rooney II said he was in favor of two Thursday night games, but he also opposed the Thursday flex, which would be announced 15 days before the scheduled kickoff.

"I didn't support the flex part," Rooney II said. "I think that if we are smart about how we schedule the teams... If they're playing two Thursday nights, I mean, for instance, you can give them back-to-back Thursdays, things like that, and have a bye on one end or things like that. I think it can be done in a way that teams will be able to live with it. It provides more inventory to schedule on Thursday night, so it can be a good thing.

"The biggest problem I had with the flex was that the proposal was that you only had 15 days' notice. That's just too short of a turnaround time for a flex from a Sunday to Thursday, as far as I'm concerned."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35986328/thursday-flex-proposal-tabled-mara-mahomes-critics

 

LMAO, that's comical! He makes it sound like one team is playing well, so they "flex it" to have them play the defending champs or something since the fans would want to see it. He's soooo full of it. Moving games is never in the best interests of the fans.

 

This is a terrible idea.

 

What a load of crap.


Kudos to John Mara, btw.

 

Same. Until they offer reasonable a la carte pricing per team, I'll either keep using greasy links; watch it at the bar, or just not watch it at all.

 

Only speaking for myself here but the money comparison on watching at a bar vs. watching at home and shelling out money for Sunday Ticket is not a great one for a few reasons:

1. There's a good chance I'd be at a bar on Sunday anyway.
2. If I watched at home, I'd still have food and drink expense.
3. I'd rather support my local bar owner than the NFL, and the local bar owner is in turn supporting the NFL with their purchase of Sunday Ticket.
4. Also, a small weekly expenditure for a few beers while watching the game feels much different on my budget than a $300 unplanned expense.
5. I wouldn't watch every game at the bar, only those I can't find on TV.

As to your other arguments - you're completely discounting the fact many of us are willing to pay a fair price for 1 team's games.

Also - I'm into capitalism and think every player should get whatever money they can get, and I don't begrudge them for it. But to think that would influence what I'm willing to pay to watch the sport above and beyond my own selfish interest, and the price point I consider it worth it for the entertainment value it provides me is ludicrous. What a player gets paid is between the player and his employer and based on their value to the company. What I'm willing to pay for the product will drive what the employer pays the player, but in no way shape or form will that factor into what I'm willing to pay for the product. You're suggesting a level of complexity here that's completely unnecessary given the basic laws of supply and demand.

 

You make it sound like we're talking about a struggling mom and pop shop here the way you're talking, and not one of the worst examples of a Monopoly.

 

/end thread

 

He be lying.

 

I agree. It's going to happen eventually. The other point that needs to be mentioned is that late season Thursday/Saturday game results will affect more than the teams playing in those games. Flexing during the last two weeks is absolutely consequential to the standings because dominoes will fall, no matter who wins or loses.

For example, if a Cincinnati vs Cleveland game got flexed to Thursday night of the final week and Cincinnati lost, it might lead to the Chiefs deciding to rest their players in a game against the Bills if the Chiefs secured the top seed. That game against KC's scrubs could potentially cost us (or the Jests or Pats) a division banner.

I know this is thinking too hard about it, but I just dislike Thursday night football and flexing is another reason for me too dig in.